By Sean Devers
It is said when night falls the stars come out to shine and this evening when the ExxonMobil Guyana Amazon Warriors face off with St Kitts & Nevis Patriots from 6:00PM at Providence there will be no bigger star than Patriots Captain Chris Gayle.
Yesterday at the Marriott Hotel, both teams promised a keenly contested and entertaining contest for what is expected to be a capacity crowd of 15,000.
Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik will lead the Warriors tonight and said that although the Warriors have never won a title despite reaching three finals and two semi-finals in the five-year history of the CPL, there is no pressure on him or his players because of this.
Warriors’ Coach South African Johan Botha said that his chargers are ready since they are now accustomed to the conditions and heat in Guyana after spending a week here.
Both Windies T20 Captain Carlos Braithwaite, standing in for Gayle at yesterday’s press conference, and Malik said the conditions here are expected to favour the spinners.
Braithwaite, the powerfully built Bajan, whose claim to fame is his four consecutive sixes against England in final over of the last T20 World Cup to give Windies the title, says he has never played a CPL match at Providence but feels the conditions could favour the home side.
“While the conditions could favour the Warriors we have had a one-week camp in St Kitts and we have some good spinners in our side.”
In last year’s final Trinbago Knight Riders beat the Patriots by three wickets with six balls to spare.
“We are aiming to repeat our good performance from last year and to go one better than we did then,” Braithwaite said.
Malik disclosed that he is very impressed by the confidence shown by 21-year-old Shimron Hetymer and 19-year-old Sherfane Rutherford in the practice games.

Windies’ Shimron Hetymer cuts for four during his 66 in their first practice match at Providence.

Guyanese Kemo Paul had a very good series with the ball against Bangladesh in ‘White Ball Cricket’, while Devendra Bishoo and Veerasammy Permaul have played at the highest level and are very experienced.
“If the local players can do well and with the international players bringing experience to the side then it makes it easier to be successful in these conditions,” Malik said.
Imran Tahir, Malik, Bishoo, Permaul and Australian off-spinner Chris Green, who bowled impressively in the two practice games, should all relish bowling their spin at Providence.
But the Warriors also have pace options in Paul, Rutherford, Sohail Tanvir, Rayad Emrit and Rohan Primus.
“It is the bowlers responsibility to win matches,” Malik opined.
Luke Ronchi, Chadwick Walton, Malik, Rutherford, Hetymer, Jason Mohammed, Gajanand Singh and the all-rounders give the hosts plenty of batting options.
The Patriots will bank on the powerful top order of Gayle, Evin Lewis, Mahmudulla and Braithwaite to do the bulk of the scoring.
The Television coverage of today’s will be delayed by one hour and will start at 7PM local time.
Guyana Amazon Warriors
Sohail Tanvir, Shoaib Malik, Chadwick Walton, Cameron Delport (replaced by Chris Green for first 4 games), Rayad Emrit, Imran Tahir, Jason Mohammed, Luke Ronchi, Veerasammy Permaul, Roshon Primus, Shimron Hetmyer, Devendra Bishoo, Gajanand Singh, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Kemo Paul, Saurabh Netravalkar, Akshaya Persaud.
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots
Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Ben Cutting, Carlos Brathwaite, Mahmudulla, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tom Cooper, Sheldon Cottrell, Brandon King, Devon Thomas, Graeme Cremer, Fabian Allen, Shamarh Brooks, Sandeep Lamichhane, Jeremiah Louis, Alzarri Joseph, Ibrahim Khaleel, Javelle Glen.